The French National Assembly has passed legislation on climate protection. This also includes a ban on certain short-haul flights. Before that, it was debated for around 200 hours. The vote in the Senate is due in June 2021.

If the law also goes through the second chamber, flights within France are to be prohibited if the destination can be reached by train within 2,5 hours. Originally, this threshold was supposed to be four hours, but the proposal was changed after a long debate. The aviation industry is considered badly hit.

Various environmental organizations were not very pleased with the compromise. The ban on short-haul flights does not go far enough for them. The railway is always highlighted as a particularly environmentally friendly means of transport, but the level of electrification outside the EU countries is sometimes extremely low. In the United Kingdom, for example, there is the absurd fact on many routes that private railway companies use diesel traction under contact wire for reasons of cost.